ELTA Press Releases 1 May, 29 June, 14 July 2004

Press Release 1 May 2004 - Boost for Pensioners’ plan to sue Equitable

Press Release 29 June 2004 - Deadline looms for pensioners to join Equitable court action

Press Release 14 July 2004 - 700 pensioners issue writ against Equitable

Tuesday 18 May 2004

Boost for Pensioners’ plan to sue Equitable

Pensioners action group ELTA has received 2,000 enquiries from Equitable annuitants interested in suing the Society to recover their losses and extended the deadline for applications to allow more people to join the action.

“As of today we have received membership cheques and forms from over 400 people and we know there are many more on the way” said ELTA’s chairman, Peter Scawen. “This means we have met our first objective, which is to have enough information to brief counsel to determine the precise nature of our claims against the Society.”

ELTA says that many people are still trying to complete their documentation to join in the litigation, so the group has extended the deadline for applications by 2 weeks, until 28^th May.

The group is inviting 60,000 with-profits annuitants to join them before the May 28^th deadline, to ensure that a writ can be issued in July before their case is ‘timed-out’ by the Statute of Limitations. ELTA has been offered a ‘no win no fee’ deal with Bristol lawyers Clarke Willmott.

Members are being asked to pay an initial £100 towards the group’s fighting fund, with another £900 due in July on the assumption that they agree to issue a writ. The group is now close to its target of £500,000 to cover the costs of insurance and QCs fees.

“The Equitable board are just playing for time with their advice to wait for the Parliamentary Ombudsman,” said Scawen. “We don’t trust them, which is why we are taking matters into our own hands.”

Many Equitable WP annuitants have seen their pensions slashed by up to 40% and have been led to believe that their income could suffer more cuts in the future.

More information on the proposed legal action can be found on the ELTA website at www.elta.org.uk or by writing to ELTA at Mid Comp Farm, Comp Lane, Sevenoaks Kent TN15 8QT.

Tuesday 29 June 2004

Deadline looms for pensioners to join Equitable court action

Pensioners action group ELTA is warning Equitable annuitants who wish to join its action against the Society that they must register before July 5^th. More than 650 people have now signed up for the action and the group intends to issue a writ by July 15th at the latest.

ELTA and lawyers Clarke Willmott have met with barristers Adrian Palmer QC and John Virgo to discuss the case and they have decided to go ahead with proceedings, subject to a final written opinion from Mr Palmer.

“Only people named in the writ will be subscribed to the action” said ELTA chairman Peter Scawen. “Anyone who wants to join must phone our lawyers immediately.”

The cost of joining the action is £1,000 payable immediately. Members who have already paid a deposit have to send in the balance of £900 by July 5^th or forfeit their place in the action. ELTA has been offered a ‘no win no fee’ deal with Bristol lawyers Clarke Willmott. The money from members is required to fund court costs, external advice and insurance against legal costs.

“We are delighted that so many people have signed up for our action – there is greater safety in numbers and we are very optimistic about the chances of success,” said Scawen. “So far the only people who have successfully obtained redress from Equitable have had to do so by threatening court action.  Leaving it to the discretion of the Equitable board is not a realistic option.”

Many Equitable WP annuitants have seen their pensions slashed by up to 40% and have been led to believe that their income could suffer even more cuts in the future.

More information on the proposed legal action can be found on the ELTA website at www.elta.org.uk. Anyone wishing to join the action who has not already done so must telephone lawyers Clarke Willmott on 0117 916 9646 and join before July 5th.

Wednesday 14 July 2004

700 pensioners issue writ against Equitable

Action group ELTA will today (14 July) issue a multi-million pound claim against Equitable Life in the Bristol Mercantile Court. More than 700 pensioners are named in the writ – all alleging that the Society mis-sold them their annuities.

“I am delighted that so many people have decided to join our action” said ELTA’s chairman, Peter Scawen. “Equitable has done nothing to help the victims of this scandal and their attempts to intimidate us into backing off have failed.”

In a letter sent to ELTA’s lawyers on 28 June, Equitable’s solicitors implied that Equitable would run up legal bills in excess of £5 million pounds defending the claim and warned ELTA that they might have to bear the cost if they lost the case.  The letter also claimed that Equitable would seek to convince the court that ELTA’s claim should be time-barred.

ELTA however, has been offered a ‘no win no fee’ deal with Bristol lawyers Clarke Willmott. Clarke Willmott now has four months to finalise the details of the claim in consultation with their barristers before serving the claim on Equitable. Although the ELTA group does not have to pay Clarke Willmott’s bills, the £700,000 raised will be used to cover the costs of insurance and QCs fees.

“People were still asking to join our action right up to the eleventh hour,” said Scawen. “but despite this last minute flurry, Clarke Willmott have managed to issue the writ to meet the deadline of 15 July.

Anybody who failed to send the £1,000 fee into the group before the deadline has now ‘missed the boat’ and lawyers believe they are unlikely to be able to join the action at a later date unless they are within six years of the date of purchase of their policies.

ELTA says that it will continue to campaign on behalf of all its 2,000 members and the other 50,000 annuitants trapped in the Equitable Life fund. Many Equitable WP annuitants have seen their pensions slashed by up to 40% and have been led to believe that their income could suffer more cuts in the future.

More information on ELTA can be found at www.elta.org.uk or by writing to ELTA at Mid Comp Farm, Comp Lane, Sevenoaks Kent TN15 8QT.

Supporting information

Quote from Financial Times 9 July 2004

Clarke Willmott intends to set up insurance policies to cover the annuitants against losing the case. If they win, the legal firm's fee will be calculated on the basis of the time it spent on the hearing.

However, Equitable Life says the case is likely to be an expensive waste of time. It says any case would be highly expensive for the annuitants, who will not win because the mutual has checked all its actions during the last three years with legal advisers and the Financial Services Authority. Even if the annuitants did win, any payment could only come out of the life assurer's with-profits fund, so they would be cutting policyholders' assets. Equitable says: "They will need to have very deep pockets. We believe we have very strong defences against the broad outlines of the case which we expect them to make. And we can't understand the value of with-profits annuitants suing themselves."

Extract from letter from Lovells solicitors to Clark Willmott dated 28 June 2004

We note your comments regarding expiry of relevant limitation periods and that you are confident that proceedings commenced before 15 July this year cannot be successfully defended on limitation grounds. We do not agree. We consider that it is strongly arguable that the relevant three year period would run from 1 August 2000 (possibly earlier) and that accordingly such claims are already time barred. If proceedings are issued then the matter of limitation will be addressed at an early stage.

We note that it is proposed that ELTA members contribute a total of £500,000 to cover the costs of disbursements such as Counsel's fees and the insurance premium to cover the matter right through to trial. We do not know what levels of after the event insurance cover have been or may be obtained. However, your insurers and any potential claimants should be made aware that we have advised the Society that if these claims are not struck out on an early basis eg on the grounds of limitation or that a GLO is inappropriate, the Society's costs of going to trial with even a modest number of test cases will almost certainly exceed £5 million including Counsels' and experts' fees.